


Whitened Spite

by InudaTheFox



Series: The Reaping Vessel [1]
Category: Hollow Knight
Genre: Big bad oh yikez, Currently radiance is only mentioned as "old light", Evil!Pale King au, Good!Radiance au, Hallownest is a bad place, I actually find PK interesting but for the sake of the fic hes an ass, Is the vessel an oc??? Probably, Kinslaying, Main vessel is "Reaper", Major Character Injury, Pale king's an asshole, Pk is horrible dad and Grimm doesnt may his fucking child support dkfnjd, Radiance just wants her fam back :(, So is white lady for that matter, Theyre both abusive and mean >:(, Uhhh lots of death and kinslaying i guess, Which is kinda what she is
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:34:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22256536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InudaTheFox/pseuds/InudaTheFox
Summary: Born of God and Void, even then our kind is abused by authority and death by the delusions of a single king.He'll meet his due soon enough; even if I have to drag him there myself.
Series: The Reaping Vessel [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1602157
Comments: 4
Kudos: 26





	Whitened Spite

Shadows... dancing shadows... blissful ignorance of life- one with the abyss...

The calling of their mother- the calling of the void, soothing the fears of the souls that have yet to form.

Cries of anguish of the motherland- of the shadows- who wail at their lost children, who fall fall fall into the basin, slipping past their warm embrace and into another plane of existence that they could never breach.

A soul could hear, and experience them all- they wish for a chance to save their kin, and maybe make their mother stop her weeping.

A call from royalty, asking the darkness to help them.

The darkness answered, and formed into a body, slaying orange-eyed beasts to protect their kingdom just as their lord asked them too.

A king, noble and white, studies the vessel of darkness, testing them. They are shooed away by their majesty.

"Protect the kingdom and my root," he said, "but leave me here."

The darkness understood, their shadows dancing, a void of emotions tumbling in their chest, but never denied the king's orders- they were here to help, not squander about.

Other shadows, given life from the inky abyss they were once apart of, born from the depths- the king studies them again, and sends them on their way to learn.

The darkness meets their kin, speaking in a silent dialect only creatures born like them understand, and helps them fight the orange monstrosities.

**_"A mind to think..." _ ****__**

**__****_ _ **

**____ **

The first vessel, wielding a crescent nail, striking enemies and throwing their weapons like a boomerang, cutting down the enemies of their lord and lady. They stay by the queen, never straying from their duty as they protect her from the foul beasts that plague their lord's kingdom- tired and lifeless sunrise irises engraved in their mind as they hack away at the stumbling husks.

Sometimes, staring at those eyes, they could feel a pit blossom in the bottom of their stomach, but willed it away- their duty came first.

It was when one of their brethren, a youngling at that, became tarnished by the light that the void in their stomach churned, twisting and turning in a way that made the darkness want to shield themselves away from the world, even if just for a minute, and throw up.

Their king, studying them for the third time, ordered them to "do away" with their infected kin, and the churning worsened. Under his palest watch, the darkness raised their hooked blade and gave their kin- their family- a painless death; a simple slash and their masked head was rolling along the ground.

The darkness only watched as their brethren's body turned into liquid, the ink-like substance seeping back into the earth- back into the abyss, where they shall be born again- be it vessel or spirit.

Emotions tumbling and unraveling, the vessel made their first and last mistake.

**_"A will to break..." _ ****__**

**__****_ _ **

**__****_ _ **

They cried- black tears slipping down their mask and straining the porcelain material-, under the watch of their lord- their king.

Their lord said nothing, only turned- coat swishing with the motion- and re-entered his castle.

The darkness strayed deep into the night, never leaving the spot where they slew the very thing they wished to protect. Attention elsewhere, they never noticed a single lightseed skitter up their body- too lost in their swirling thoughts- and slip into the blue glass gem imprinted to their forehead.

That gem, once such a lovely shade of lifeblood blue, twisted into the color the darkness grew to despise most.

That color morphed monarch-orange, the kind one would see on infected butterflies, and the vessel- once born from the abyss and hailed as the kingdom's new savior- knew no more.

Awoken by knights, the vessel wandered about the pristine floors of the palace, but froze upon hearing their king.

"My root, my plans have failed yet again! I thought that the vessel- the one with the sickle- Would be the perfect vessel- but I was wrong! So, so very wrong... They have a will, my root, and it seems to have thoughts too, and the rest of their kind has proven to be useless to us."

The voice of their lady- so soft and bright- raised their hopes, only for it to be shattered like glass at her words.

"Then, what shall we do, my wyrm? We have little time- the Radiance is upon us, and as is war. Will you create new vessels and toss the old ones our, or train the will out of them? If its the latter.... then I'm afraid we've already lost."

The vessel, shaken by their words of their lord and lady- NO! They were not their lord and lady! They- they were **_traitors! ** _Traitors of the void- traitors of ** _Lord Shade!-, ** _took a few steps back, only to hit something. A glance upwards, and they felt their survival rate drop._**_**_**_**

**_**_**__** _ ** _ **

**_**_**__** _ ** _ **

Dryya, once a fellow warrior and now a vengeful enemy, did not look forgiving today.

They, as well as their kin, were rounded up by soldiers and knights alike, and the vessel felt their stomach drop when they saw the rapier their former king wield in his hand. On his balcony, there was no way for them to escape, and the darkness could hear the wailing echoes of their motherland from below.

Their siblings didn't know of the danger the king posed- though, that might just be their own ignorance that the abyss blessed them with- and a cheerful knight, ever so young and bright, stepped forward.

The king clenched the weapon in his palm, and the crescent-wielding vessel looked away, tears welling in their sockets, and yet they never spilled.

The child was killed in a matter of seconds, and with no voice for the king or his subjects to hear, the wound-up kin could only shriek in their dialect, fear etching along with their blank faces.

**_"And, yet, no voice to cry suffering." _ ****__**

**__****_ _ **

**__****_ _ **

One sobbed, and they were next.

One by one, the vessels were executed by their leader, and the vessel- the first, who slew their own kin by the king's order- felt bile rise up as knights- who they once fought alongside as allies and friends- throw their dead brethren's bodies off the balcony, over the edge and into the awaiting darkness who caught their souls before they were too far gone.

Young and old alike- it did not matter.

They were killed- murdered- by the king who they'd once served, and the void making up the vessel could only watch in horror.

When only they stood before the king, the vessel let out a string of silent rage, burning embers and roaring inferno dancing in the sockets of their mask, gem brightening to a soft glimmering glow.

**_"Born of God and Void..." _ ****__**

**__****_ _ **

**__****_ _ **

But, even in their rage, they knew they could not fight their king- after all, who could face a god and win?- and allowed the rapier- once white and pure as the king himself now stained with the inky substance their kin was made up of- to pierce their chest, a wild pain slipping through the crack and echoing through the body like the light's madness.

**_"...Tainted by the Old Light." _ ****__**

**__****_ _ **

**__****_ _ **

Armored hands grabbed them by their arms and waist, and the next thing they know, they're sailing down down down to the awaiting arms of their mother, pain still stomping through them like a stagway, and the vessel- for the first time- felt an emotion that they never thought they'd feel for anyone- lest of all the king that brought them life.

Watching the pristine balcony and white figure of the king turn into merely a twinkle, the vessel let out a humorless laugh that only they could hear.

Yes, the hatred they felt for the Pale King burned more than any fire ever could.

But, even with the rushing wind and the babbling of the shadows, the vessels could still make out those last, awful words their majesty uttered with the clarity that only someone dying would ever understand.

**_"...You are not my Hollow Knight." ** __**_**

**_**__** _ **

**_**__** _ **

'Yes,' they thought solemnly, fading away from the world, 'I am not your hollow knight, and it brings me joy to spite you even at the cost of my existence.'

They promised, in the depths of their mind where only their soul existed, that they would bring the Pale King and his kingdom to ruin.

And if he ever achieved his esteemed "Hollow Knight"- well, they'd just have to do away with them too.

And, with that promise, the last of the vessels faded into nothingness.  



End file.
